British Airways flew 9.24 billion RPKs in May, down 0.7% year-over-year, against a 1.3% increase in capacity to 12.87 billion ASKs. Load factor dropped 1.5 points to 71.8%.
European Commission initiated a formal investigation into whether funding of Frankfurt Hahn Airport by two regional authorities and publicly owned company Fraport, its airport charges and its contracts with Ryanair break EU state aid rules. The Commission said its investigation follows complaints "from a competing airline and from an association of airlines" and noted that after an initial assessment of evidence it concluded that Flughafen Frankfurt Hahn may have behaved like a private market investor.
US airline executives yesterday stressed the debilitating nature of rising fuel prices and said further capacity reductions may be warranted, while Delta Air Lines announced that it is raising its second-half year-over-year domestic mainline capacity reduction from a previously announced 10% to 13%.
Six major Chinese carriers--Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Xiamen Airlines and Shanghai Airlines--have been chosen to operate the first weekend charter flights across the Taiwan Strait, according to CAAC. Based on last week's agreement between the Strait Exchange Foundation (Taipei) and the Assn. for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (Beijing) ( ATWOnline, June 16), 18 flights will be permitted each weekend (including Fridays) beginning July 4.
ARINC and Flybe selected IER to supply more than 100 IER 918 self-service check-in kiosks for installation at 22 airports in the UK and Europe. IER 918s feature passport and barcode readers and general purpose printers to enhance pre-departure services.
Emirates will add 18 weekly flights to India from July through October, when it will operate 132 weekly flights. From July 2, New Delhi will increase to 18-times-weekly from 14; eight-times-weekly Bangalore service will increase to 15 with two additional flights in July and five in October; 11-times-weekly Hyderabad will be served 16 times in July and 18 in October.
Severely affected by weak economic conditions, FedEx reported a 44% drop in net income for its full fiscal year ended May 31 to $1.13 billion from $2.02 billion the previous year. The result included a rare quarterly net loss in the fiscal fourth quarter of $241 million, reversed from net income of $610 million in the year-ago period. "Record high fuel prices and the weak US economy dampened volume growth and substantially affected our bottom line," Chairman, President and CEO Frederick Smith said.
US FAA yesterday announced that Bulgaria has been raised to a Category 1 safety rating from the Category 2 imposed in September 2003. It said Bulgaria was in compliance with ICAO standards in a January reassessment.
Bombardier signed a five-year Component Repair & Exchange agreement covering Luxair Luxembourg Airlines' three Q400s. The component pool covers nearly 250 part numbers and will be located at Bombardier's Frankfurt distribution center.
Qantas's interest in the 777-300ER as a partial replacement for its 747-400 fleet is growing, Australian media are reporting. QF has 20 A380s on order for key routes such as Los Angeles and London Heathrow, but flights to destinations such as Tokyo Narita, San Francisco, Johannesburg and Frankfurt will not justify the A380, at least initially.
Lufthansa will begin phasing out its 60-strong 737-300/-500 fleet by next year, with the -500s leaving by the end of 2009 and the remaining aircraft being retired by 2012, depending on market developments.
Singapore Airlines is achieving load factors of 95% on its A380 services to London Heathrow, according to airline sources, while the four A380s currently in service are averaging nearly 80%. SIA officials said the novelty of flying aboard the new jumbo aircraft has contributed to their popularity. It launched A380 flights to Tokyo Narita last month ( ATWOnline, May 21) and is scheduled to take delivery of its fifth A380 before July.
China is gearing up efforts to consolidate the manufacture of large commercial trunk aircraft with the merger of AVIC I and AVIC II, now scheduled to occur in July ( ATWOnline, May 28). The companies held a mobilization conference last weekend and established a group led by AVIC I President Lin Zuoming to formulate the specific merger plan, which is awaiting approval from Beijing. China Aviation Industry Corp. was split in July 1999. AVIC I comprises Xi'an Aircraft Industry Co., Shenyang Aircraft Corp., Chengdu Aircraft Industrial Co.
Ryanair launched its 25th base yesterday at Birmingham International and said it will start service to Alicante, Derry, Fuerteventura, Katowice, Kaunas, Krakow, Palma, Malaga and Murcia in October with one 737-800. It will base two aircraft at BHX initially, rising to 10 by 2012. It will invest $700 million in the operation, which is expected to handle 5 million passengers annually by 2012. Separately, Ryanair launched a new Flight Tracker service with Sentient Solutions that will deliver flight information to UK and Irish mobile phones.
Sun Country Airlines launched a cashless cabin project yesterday and now will accept only Visa and MasterCard credit and debit cards for onboard purchases.
TUI acquired the remaining stake of Moroccan LCC Jet4you. It owned 40% of the Casablanca-based airline and purchased the remaining shares last week, Agence France Presse reported. Jet4you operates five 737 Classics and plans to double its fleet by 2013. It reported €51 million ($78.7 million) in revenue last year.
Clear has partnered with Delta Air Lines to operate Fast Pass security lanes in the carrier's terminals at New York JFK, LaGuardia and Los Angeles. Agreement calls for enrollment centers to open in Delta Crown Room Clubs in Atlanta and for Clear Fast Pass program promotion to SkyMiles members and via Delta's website. TSA pre-screens members and application involves iris and fingerprint image processing. Members pay $128 annually and receive a card giving them access to designated security lanes.
US Air Transport Assn. President and CEO James May told a US Senate subcommittee yesterday that fuel price increases are "unprecedented" and "devastating" and could lead US airlines to lose nearly $10 billion collectively for full-year 2008, "on par with the worst financial year in aviation history." He added that US carriers will spend more than $61 billion on fuel in 2008, "slightly more than the total fuel bill combined for the first four years of this decade."
Aer Lingus's short-haul winter schedule includes a new twice-weekly Dublin-Sofia, extension of summer DUB-Hamburg to year-round and the relaunch of winter service to Salzburg, Agadir and Newcastle. Expansion brings EI's DUB network to 50 routes. In addition, it will increase frequencies to Paris Charles De Gaulle, Dusseldorf, Warsaw, Bucharest, Geneva, Milan (it flies to both Malpensa and Linate), Barcelona, Malaga, Lisbon and Manchester.
United Airlines parent UAL Corp. said in a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it expects second-quarter revenue to increase over the year-ago period as both capacity and traffic fall. Second-quarter mainline passenger RASM is expected to rise 4%-5% year-over-year, with consolidated PRASM lifting 3.5%-4.5%. At the same time, mainline and consolidated capacity are expected to decline 1.4% from the year-ago period. Mainline traffic will fall 4%-4.5% and consolidated RPMs will decline 4.25%-4.75%.
Air Canada, following the path of several US counterparts, said yesterday it will cut total system capacity by 7% year-over-year in this year's fourth quarter and the 2009 first quarter and slash its workforce by 2,000.
Copa Airlines flew 456.2 million RPMs in May, up 22.3% year-over-year, against a 17.2% increase in capacity to 580.1 million ASMs. Load factor rose 3.3 points to 78.7%.
Virgin America said yesterday that it will reduce fourth-quarter capacity by 10% compared to previous projections by adding flights on "select high-demand routes while reducing capacity on off-peak flights this fall," citing seasonal demand changes and high fuel prices. "These temporary schedule reductions and strategic additions better reflect the industry landscape we anticipate, given that consumer demand for air travel will be affected by seasonality and, potentially, by higher gas prices in the fall," President and CEO David Cush said.
